schooler

This week, pictures of a chubby-faced Vance were ubiquitous; not so much a fat edit of the vice president as it is as if someone photoshopped an overweight middle schooler’s countenance on his besuited figure.

When Leiato was starring for the Spartans, Egbuka was a young middle schooler standing on the sidelines, mimicking his favorite player’s moves and trying to emulate him as best he could.

For Dakota, a 17-year-old transgender high schooler from the San Gabriel Valley, it was an older trans girl at school who made the difference — who helped ease Dakota’s loneliness and give her hope.

Six months later, she’s a high schooler signing shirts at bowling alleys for cash, while Jason’s efforts to get her signed are met with the same narrow-mindedness about the image of girls in boxing that he had to disabuse himself of years ago.

“Oh, it was a big deal,” said the 42-year-old, who came to California as a middle schooler from her native Colina, Mexico.